System and method for email message following from a user&#39;s inbox

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a system and method for email management. The disclosed systems and methods enable a user to follow messages and message conversations based on, but not limited to, a context of the received messages, content included in the messages, the sender of the messages, intended recipients of the message, and the like. Therefore, the present disclosure describes systems and methods for enabling a recipient user to follow messages, topics or other users from the recipient user&#39;s inbox. Accordingly, followed topics or messages from followed users can be grouped into message conversations within the recipient user&#39;s inbox. Whenever there is an update in a followed conversation, the recipient user will be notified. By determining which messages a user desires to follow, the disclosed systems and methods can identify the interests of users by leveraging information from the followed messages for advertising purposes.

This application includes material that is subject to copyrightprotection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimilereproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in thePatent and Trademark Office files or records, but otherwise reserves allcopyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to email management, and moreparticularly towards systems and methods that enable a user to followmessage activity including message conversations directly from theuser's inbox.

RELATED ART

Electronic mail (“email”) has become omnipresent in everyday use foronline users as larger numbers of people are able to access the Internetfrom an array of devices. In addition to providing a way for individualsto communicate more efficiently with each other, electronic mail alsoprovides an effective form of communication for individuals, businesses,organizations, and other entities interested in communicating with largegroups of people, such as friends, family, current and customers, andthe like.

SUMMARY

The disclosed systems and methods focus upon email management thatenables a user to follow messages and message conversations directlyfrom the user's inbox based on, but not limited to, a context of thereceived messages, content included in the messages, the sender of themessages, intended recipients of the message, among other types ofinformation associated with or comprised within received messages. Thus,the present disclosure describes systems and methods for enabling arecipient user to “follow” messages, topics, or other users from therecipient user's inbox. Accordingly, followed messages can becategorized or grouped into message conversations within the recipientuser's inbox. Therefore, whenever there is an update in a followedconversation, the recipient user will be notified. As discussed in moredetail below, such notification can include the recipient user receivingan alert or other type of notification signifying that a followedconversation has been updated. Such notification can be realized in theuser's inbox through dedicated tags applied to messages or displaysassociated with followed conversations, or through a specified viewingscreen, portion, area or folder within the user's inbox, which can alertthe user to such updates, as discussed in more detail below. Bydetermining which messages a user desires to follow, the disclosedsystems and methods can identify the interests of users by leveraginginformation from the followed messages for advertising purposes.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, a method is disclosed whichincludes receiving, at a computing device, an instruction to follow amessage conversation from a message inbox of a user, said followinstruction comprising follow criteria associated with a messagecontext; analyzing, via the computing device, message data associatedwith an incoming message addressed to the user, said analysis comprisingcomparing said message data to said follow criteria; determining, viathe computing device, whether at least a portion of said message datasatisfies said follow criteria based on said comparison; generating, viathe computing device, a notification for display in said inbox based onsaid satisfaction of said follow criteria, said notification indicatingto said user that said message conversation has received an updatedthread; and delivering, via the computing device, said incoming messagefor display in said inbox, wherein said delivery facilitates display ofsaid incoming message in a follow section of said inbox.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium is provided, the computer-readablestorage medium tangibly storing thereon, or having tangibly encodedthereon, computer readable instructions that when executed cause atleast one processor to perform a method that enable a user to followmessage activity including message conversations from the user's inbox.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, a system is provided thatcomprises one or more computing devices configured to providefunctionality in accordance with such embodiments. In accordance withone or more embodiments, functionality is embodied in steps of a methodperformed by at least one computing device. In accordance with one ormore embodiments, program code to implement functionality in accordancewith one or more such embodiments is embodied in, by and/or on acomputer-readable medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of thedisclosure will be apparent from the following description ofembodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichreference characters refer to the same parts throughout the variousviews. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead beingplaced upon illustrating principles of the disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a networkwithin which the systems and methods disclosed herein could beimplemented according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts is a schematic diagram illustrating a client device inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating components of a systemin accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating steps performed in accordance withsome embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a non-limiting example embodiment of messagefollowing in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating steps performed in accordance withsome embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating architecture of a hardware devicein accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, specific example embodiments.Subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different formsand, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to beconstrued as not being limited to any example embodiments set forthherein; example embodiments are provided merely to be illustrative.Likewise, a reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matteris intended. Among other things, for example, subject matter may beembodied as methods, devices, components, or systems. Accordingly,embodiments may, for example, take the form of hardware, software,firmware or any combination thereof (other than software per se). Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not intended to be takenin a limiting sense.

Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have nuanced meaningssuggested or implied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning.Likewise, the phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does notnecessarily refer to the same embodiment and the phrase “in anotherembodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to a differentembodiment. It is intended, for example, that claimed subject matterinclude combinations of example embodiments in whole or in part.

In general, terminology may be understood at least in part from usage incontext. For example, terms, such as “and”, “or”, or “and/or,” as usedherein may include a variety of meanings that may depend at least inpart upon the context in which such terms are used. Typically, “or” ifused to associate a list, such as A, B or C, is intended to mean A, B,and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B or C, here usedin the exclusive sense. In addition, the term “one or more” as usedherein, depending at least in part upon context, may be used to describeany feature, structure, or characteristic in a singular sense or may beused to describe combinations of features, structures or characteristicsin a plural sense. Similarly, terms, such as “a,” “an,” or “the,” again,may be understood to convey a singular usage or to convey a pluralusage, depending at least in part upon context. In addition, the term“based on” may be understood as not necessarily intended to convey anexclusive set of factors and may, instead, allow for existence ofadditional factors not necessarily expressly described, again, dependingat least in part on context.

The present disclosure is described below with reference to blockdiagrams and operational illustrations of methods and devices. It isunderstood that each block of the block diagrams or operationalillustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams oroperational illustrations, can be implemented by means of analog ordigital hardware and computer program instructions. These computerprogram instructions can be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, ASIC, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, implement the functions/acts specified in the block diagramsor operational block or blocks. In some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks can occur out of the order noted inthe operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown insuccession can in fact be executed substantially concurrently or theblocks can sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending uponthe functionality/acts involved.

These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, ASIC, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, implement the functions/acts specified in theblock diagrams or operational block or blocks.

For the purposes of this disclosure a computer readable medium (orcomputer-readable storage medium/media) stores computer data, which datacan include computer program code (or computer-executable instructions)that is executable by a computer, in machine readable form. By way ofexample, and not limitation, a computer readable medium may comprisecomputer readable storage media, for tangible or fixed storage of data,or communication media for transient interpretation of code-containingsignals. Computer readable storage media, as used herein, refers tophysical or tangible storage (as opposed to signals) and includeswithout limitation volatile and non-volatile, removable andnon-removable media implemented in any method or technology for thetangible storage of information such as computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other data. Computer readablestorage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM,flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD, orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other physical ormaterial medium which can be used to tangibly store the desiredinformation or data or instructions and which can be accessed by acomputer or processor.

For the purposes of this disclosure the term “server” should beunderstood to refer to a service point which provides processing,database, and communication facilities. By way of example, and notlimitation, the term “server” can refer to a single, physical processorwith associated communications and data storage and database facilities,or it can refer to a networked or clustered complex of processors andassociated network and storage devices, as well as operating softwareand one or more database systems and application software that supportthe services provided by the server. Servers may vary widely inconfiguration or capabilities, but generally a server may include one ormore central processing units and memory. A server may also include oneor more mass storage devices, one or more power supplies, one or morewired or wireless network interfaces, one or more input/outputinterfaces, or one or more operating systems, such as Windows Server,Mac OS X, Unix, Linux, FreeBSD, or the like.

For the purposes of this disclosure a “network” should be understood torefer to a network that may couple devices so that communications may beexchanged, such as between a server and a client device or other typesof devices, including between wireless devices coupled via a wirelessnetwork, for example. A network may also include mass storage, such asnetwork attached storage (NAS), a storage area network (SAN), or otherforms of computer or machine readable media, for example. A network mayinclude the Internet, one or more local area networks (LANs), one ormore wide area networks (WANs), wire-line type connections, wirelesstype connections, cellular or any combination thereof. Likewise,sub-networks, which may employ differing architectures or may becompliant or compatible with differing protocols, may interoperatewithin a larger network. Various types of devices may, for example, bemade available to provide an interoperable capability for differingarchitectures or protocols. As one illustrative example, a router mayprovide a link between otherwise separate and independent LANs.

A communication link or channel may include, for example, analogtelephone lines, such as a twisted wire pair, a coaxial cable, full orfractional digital lines including T1, T2, T3, or T4 type lines,Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDNs), Digital Subscriber Lines(DSLs), wireless links including satellite links, or other communicationlinks or channels, such as may be known to those skilled in the art.Furthermore, a computing device or other related electronic devices maybe remotely coupled to a network, such as via a telephone line or link,for example.

For purposes of this disclosure, a “wireless network” should beunderstood to couple client devices with a network. A wireless networkmay employ stand-alone ad-hoc networks, mesh networks, Wireless LAN(WLAN) networks, cellular networks, or the like. A wireless network mayfurther include a system of terminals, gateways, routers, or the likecoupled by wireless radio links, or the like, which may move freely,randomly or organize themselves arbitrarily, such that network topologymay change, at times even rapidly. A wireless network may further employa plurality of network access technologies, including Long TermEvolution (LTE), WLAN, Wireless Router (WR) mesh, or 2nd, 3rd, or 4thgeneration (2G, 3G, or 4G) cellular technology, or the like. Networkaccess technologies may enable wide area coverage for devices, such asclient devices with varying degrees of mobility, for example.

For example, a network may enable RF or wireless type communication viaone or more network access technologies, such as Global System forMobile communication (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSMEnvironment (EDGE), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced,Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n,or the like. A wireless network may include virtually any type ofwireless communication mechanism by which signals may be communicatedbetween devices, such as a client device or a computing device, betweenor within a network, or the like.

A computing device may be capable of sending or receiving signals, suchas via a wired or wireless network, or may be capable of processing orstoring signals, such as in memory as physical memory states, and may,therefore, operate as a server. Thus, devices capable of operating as aserver may include, as examples, dedicated rack-mounted servers, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, set top boxes, integrated devices combiningvarious features, such as two or more features of the foregoing devices,or the like. Servers may vary widely in configuration or capabilities,but generally a server may include one or more central processing unitsand memory. A server may also include one or more mass storage devices,one or more power supplies, one or more wired or wireless networkinterfaces, one or more input/output interfaces, or one or moreoperating systems, such as Windows Server, Mac OS X, Unix, Linux,FreeBSD, or the like.

For purposes of this disclosure, a client (or consumer or user) devicemay include a computing device capable of sending or receiving signals,such as via a wired or a wireless network. A client device may, forexample, include a desktop computer or a portable device, such as acellular telephone, a smart phone, a display pager, a radio frequency(RF) device, an infrared (IR) device an Near Field Communication (NFC)device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld computer, atablet computer, a laptop computer, a set top box, a wearable computer,an integrated device combining various features, such as features of theforgoing devices, or the like.

A client device may vary in terms of capabilities or features. Claimedsubject matter is intended to cover a wide range of potentialvariations. For example, a cell phone may include a numeric keypad or adisplay of limited functionality, such as a monochrome liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) for displaying text. In contrast, however, as anotherexample, a web-enabled client device may include one or more physical orvirtual keyboards, mass storage, one or more accelerometers, one or moregyroscopes or compasses, global positioning system (GPS) or otherposition and or location-identifying type capability, or a display witha high degree of functionality, such as a touch-sensitive color 2D or 3Ddisplay, for example.

A client device may include or may execute a variety of operatingsystems, including a personal computer operating system, such as aWindows, iOS or Linux, or a mobile operating system, such as iOS,Android, or Windows Mobile, or the like. A client device may include ormay execute a variety of possible applications, such as a clientsoftware application enabling communication with other devices, such ascommunicating one or more messages, such as via email, short messageservice (SMS), or multimedia message service (MMS), including via anetwork, such as a social network, including, for example, Facebook®,LinkedIn®, Twitter®, Flickr®, or Google+®, Instagram™, to provide only afew possible examples. A client device may also include or execute anapplication to communicate content, such as, for example, textualcontent, multimedia content, or the like. A client device may alsoinclude or execute an application to perform a variety of possibletasks, such as browsing, searching, playing various forms of content,including locally stored or streamed video, or games (such as fantasysports leagues). The foregoing is provided to illustrate that claimedsubject matter is intended to include a wide range of possible featuresor capabilities.

The principles described herein may be embodied in many different forms.By way of background, email usage has led to an explosion of emailmessages being received in user's inboxes. As a result, this has led toan increase in user's missing out on messages that are of interest orare of particular importance to a user. Conventional systems attempt toremedy this by simply categorizing or grouping messages; however, thisfails to address the issue of highlighting messages, content and/ormessage conversations a recipient user desires to remain on top of. Thepresent disclosure addresses these shortcomings by providing systems andmethods that afford users the ability to follow particular messages fromhis/her inbox, whether the message is sent from a specific recipient,directed towards or including particular content, or other criteriadetermined to be of interest to the recipient.

According to some embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods aredirected to email management by providing a user, from the user's inbox,the ability to follow messages, topics or other users' message activity.That is, in response to receiving a message, the recipient user can“follow” the subsequent messages associated with or related to theinitial message. The ability to follow a message or topic, for purposesof this disclosure, includes receiving notifications or alerts uponreceiving subsequent communications that are deemed associated with aninitial message, as understood by those of skill in the art. Forexample, Twitter® enables users to follow other users. The presentdisclosure enables users to follow email message conversations fromhis/her inbox, a novel aspect of email management that is absent fromconventional messaging systems.

In accordance with the present disclosure, communications can befollowed based on determinations that they are related to or associatedwith one another. Such associations are based upon follow criteria foran individual user. Follow criteria sets the context for which messageconversations are to be followed. Follow criteria, according to someembodiments, can be set by the user. That is, for example, a user canselect to follow a message or conversation via user input, where theuser selects a message thread and indicates that associated messages(the message conversation) are to be followed. The user can also selectanother user's contact information (email address), which would providea follow instruction to follow messages received from that particularuser. Therefore, follow criteria, for messages in the user's inbox orcontact information in the user's inbox account, can be set by a uservia user input or search, user defined rules, filters and/orpreferences.

According to some embodiments, follow criteria can be automaticallydetermined based on the user's activity or messaging behavior inconnection with his/her inbox. As such, follow criteria can be based on,but not limited to, a sender of the message, information associated withintended recipient(s) of the message (e.g., if the message is sent to agroup), a topic of the message, context of the message, content of themessage, a message template format or information within the messagetemplate, temporal data associated with a message, social dataassociated with the message, spatial data associated with the message,and the like.

Therefore, upon receiving a message, a determination is made regardingwhether the message satisfies the follow criteria. As discussed in moredetail below, such determinations can be made upon the user openinghis/her message application or page displaying the user's inbox, or uponthe message application being responsive to a push, pull or fetchinstruction in connection with new message application data. Thus, whensubsequent messages are determined to satisfy or match the followcriteria, the user will be able to follow such messages.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, followed messagescan be grouped into message conversations within the recipient's inbox.This enables the user to view each followed message conversation.Indeed, whenever there is an update in the followed conversation, or anew mail message received that satisfies the follow criteria, thefollower (i.e., recipient user) will be notified. That is, according tosome embodiments, following messages from the user's inbox can result inthe user receiving an alert or notification. For example, a notificationcan include the recipient user receiving an alert or other type ofnotification signifying that a followed conversation has been updated.

According to some embodiments, reception of an updated message to afollowed message can result in the updated message conversation beingcategorized and displayed in a dedicated “follow” view, portion, area,tab or folder in the user's inbox, as illustrated in FIG. 5 anddiscussed in more detail below. Therefore, such notifications can berealized in the user's inbox through dedicated tags applied to messages(which can indicate which conversation or follow criteria is satisfied)or displays associated with followed conversations, and/or through aspecified view screen, portion, area, tab or folder of the user's inbox,which can alert the user to such updates, as discussed in more detailbelow.

By determining which messages, and as a result which content, a userdesires to follow, the disclosed systems and methods can identify theinterests of users by leveraging information from the followed messagesfor advertising purposes. That is, the present disclosure enables thedetermination of content from followed message conversations formonetization purposes, where targeted advertisements can be served basedupon the data (e.g., content) from such messages.

By way of a non-limiting example, user Bob desires to follow messagesfrom his wife Jill. According to some embodiments, as mentioned aboveand discussed in more detail below, Bob can locate and select Jill'semail address in order to signify that he desires to follow her emails.According to some embodiments, as discussed above, Bob can locate analready received email from Jill in his inbox and provide a user inputin connection with her email address indicating that he would like tofollow messages received from her. In some embodiments, Bob can performa search within his contacts to locate Jill's email address, and providethe input in connection with her address thereby triggering a followinstruction of her emails. Therefore, from such instruction receivedfrom Bob, Jill's email address can be set as the follow criteria forBob's email inbox. As discussed in more detail below, this informationis saved in a data store associated with Bob's email platform providerfor analysis of subsequent messages. From here, any email messageconversations sent between Bob and Jill will be classified as beingfollowed. That is, any time Bob receives a message from Jill, Bob willbe alerted to the new message.

For example, when a new message from Jill arrives, the message can berouted to a separate follow view area within Bob's inbox, as illustratedin FIG. 5. Upon displaying the message conversations between Bob andJill, each new message alert in the follow view section will include amessage summary (or snippet). For example, the first n number ofcharacters in the new message thread from Jill that satisfies athreshold can be displayed so that Bob can readily view at least aportion of the message without having to open the message.

Embodiments exist where the message may also (or alternatively) bedelivered to Bob's inbox with a tag denoting that the message satisfiesspecific follow criteria (or is part of a followed conversation). Suchtag can be displayed in connection with the new message thread or as anindicator that an entire message has been updated with a new thread.Such indicators will be discussed in more detail below in connectionwith FIG. 5.

Certain embodiments will now be described in greater detail withreference to the figures. In general, with reference to FIG. 1, a system100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.FIG. 1 shows components of a general environment in which the systemsand methods discussed herein may be practiced. Not all the componentsmay be required to practice the disclosure, and variations in thearrangement and type of the components (or order of steps) may be madewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure.

As shown, system 100 of FIG. 1 includes local area networks(“LANs”)/wide area networks (“WANs”)−network 105, wireless network 110,mobile devices (client devices) 102 and client device 101. FIG. 1additionally includes a variety of servers, such as content server 106,application (or “App”) server 108, messaging server 120 and advertising(“ad”) server 130.

One embodiment of mobile devices 102-103 is described in more detailbelow. Generally, however, mobile devices 102 may include virtually anyportable computing device capable of receiving and sending a messageover a network, such as network 105, wireless network 110, or the like.

Mobile devices 102 may also be described generally as client devicesthat are configured to be portable. Thus, mobile devices 102 may includevirtually any portable computing device capable of connecting to anothercomputing device and receiving information. Such devices includemulti-touch and portable devices such as, cellular telephones, smartphones, display pagers, radio frequency (RF) devices, infrared (IR)devices, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, laptopcomputers, wearable computers, tablet computers, integrated devicescombining one or more of the preceding devices, and the like. As such,mobile devices 102 typically range widely in terms of capabilities andfeatures. For example, a cell phone may have a numeric keypad and a fewlines of monochrome LCD display on which only text may be displayed. Inanother example, a web-enabled mobile device may have a touch sensitivescreen, a stylus, and several lines of color LCD display in which bothtext and graphics may be displayed.

A web-enabled mobile device may include a browser application that isconfigured to receive and to send web pages, web-based messages, and thelike. The browser application may be configured to receive and displaygraphics, text, multimedia, and the like, employing virtually any webbased language, including a wireless application protocol messages(WAP), and the like. In one embodiment, the browser application isenabled to employ Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML), WirelessMarkup Language (WML), WMLScript, JavaScript, Standard GeneralizedMarkup Language (SMGL), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), eXtensibleMarkup Language (XML), and the like, to display and send a message.

Mobile devices 102 also may include at least one client application thatis configured to receive content from another computing device. Theclient application may include a capability to provide and receivetextual content, graphical content, audio content, and the like. Theclient application may further provide information that identifiesitself, including a type, capability, name, and the like. In oneembodiment, mobile devices 102 may uniquely identify themselves throughany of a variety of mechanisms, including a phone number, MobileIdentification Number (MIN), an electronic serial number (ESN), or othermobile device identifier.

In some embodiments, mobile devices 102 may also communicate withnon-mobile client devices, such as client device 101, or the like. Inone embodiment, such communications may include sending and/or receivingmessages, share photographs, audio clips, video clips, or any of avariety of other forms of communications. Client device 101 may includevirtually any computing device capable of communicating over a networkto send and receive information. The set of such devices may includedevices that typically connect using a wired or wireless communicationsmedium such as personal computers, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,or the like. Thus, client device 101 may also have differingcapabilities for displaying navigable views of information.

Client devices 101-102 computing device may be capable of sending orreceiving signals, such as via a wired or wireless network, or may becapable of processing or storing signals, such as in memory as physicalmemory states, and may, therefore, operate as a server. Thus, devicescapable of operating as a server may include, as examples, dedicatedrack-mounted servers, desktop computers, laptop computers, set topboxes, integrated devices combining various features, such as two ormore features of the foregoing devices, or the like.

Wireless network 110 is configured to couple mobile devices 102 and itscomponents with network 105. Wireless network 110 may include any of avariety of wireless sub-networks that may further overlay stand-alonead-hoc networks, and the like, to provide an infrastructure-orientedconnection for mobile devices 102. Such sub-networks may include meshnetworks, Wireless LAN (WLAN) networks, cellular networks, and the like.

Wireless network 110 may further include an autonomous system ofterminals, gateways, routers, and the like connected by wireless radiolinks, and the like. These connectors may be configured to move freelyand randomly and organize themselves arbitrarily, such that the topologyof wireless network 110 may change rapidly. Wireless network 110 mayfurther employ a plurality of access technologies including 2nd (2G),3rd (3G), and/or 4th (4G) generation radio access for cellular systems,WLAN, Wireless Router (WR) mesh, and the like. Access technologies suchas 2G, 3G, 4G and future access networks may enable wide area coveragefor mobile devices, such as mobile devices 102 with various degrees ofmobility. For example, wireless network 110 may enable a radioconnection through a radio network access such as Global System forMobil communication (GSM), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS),Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess (WCDMA), and the like. In essence, wireless network 110 mayinclude virtually any wireless communication mechanism by whichinformation may travel between mobile device s 102 and another computingdevice, network, and the like.

Network 105 is configured to couple content server 106, applicationserver 108, or the like, with other computing devices, including, clientdevice 101, and through wireless network 110 to mobile devices 102.Network 105 is enabled to employ any form of computer readable media forcommunicating information from one electronic device to another. Also,network 105 can include the Internet in addition to local area networks(LANs), wide area networks (WANs), direct connections, such as through auniversal serial bus (USB) port, other forms of computer-readable media,or any combination thereof. On an interconnected set of LANs, includingthose based on differing architectures and protocols, a router acts as alink between LANs, enabling messages to be sent from one to another.Also, communication links within LANs typically include twisted wirepair or coaxial cable, while communication links between networks mayutilize analog telephone lines, full or fractional dedicated digitallines including T1, T2, T3, and T4, Integrated Services Digital Networks(ISDNs), Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs), wireless links includingsatellite links, or other communications links known to those skilled inthe art. Furthermore, remote computers and other related electronicdevices could be remotely connected to either LANs or WANs via a modemand temporary telephone link. In essence, network 105 includes anycommunication method by which information may travel between contentservers 106, application server 108, client device 101, other content orinformation available on or via the network 103, and/or other computingdevices.

Within the communications networks utilized or understood to beapplicable to the present disclosure, such networks will employ variousprotocols that are used for communication over the network. Signalpackets communicated via a network, such as a network of participatingdigital communication networks, may be compatible with or compliant withone or more protocols. Signaling formats or protocols employed mayinclude, for example, TCP/IP, UDP, DECnet, NetBEUI, IPX, APPLETALK™, orthe like. Versions of the Internet Protocol (IP) may include IPv4 orIPv6. The Internet refers to a decentralized global network of networks.The Internet includes local area networks (LANs), wide area networks(WANs), wireless networks, or long haul public networks that, forexample, allow signal packets to be communicated between LANs. Signalpackets may be communicated between nodes of a network, such as, forexample, to one or more sites employing a local network address. Asignal packet may, for example, be communicated over the Internet from auser site via an access node coupled to the Internet. Likewise, a signalpacket may be forwarded via network nodes to a target site coupled tothe network via a network access node, for example. A signal packetcommunicated via the Internet may, for example, be routed via a path ofgateways, servers, etc. that may route the signal packet in accordancewith a target address and availability of a network path to the targetaddress.

According to some embodiments, the present disclosure may also beutilized within a social networking site. A social network refersgenerally to a network of individuals, such as acquaintances, friends,family, colleagues, or co-workers, coupled via a communications networkor via a variety of sub-networks. Potentially, additional relationshipsmay subsequently be formed as a result of social interaction via thecommunications network or sub-networks. In some embodiments, multi-modalcommunications may occur between members of the social network.Individuals within one or more social networks may interact orcommunication with other members of a social network via a variety ofdevices. Multi-modal communication technologies refers to a set oftechnologies that permit interoperable communication across multipledevices or platforms, such as cell phones, smart phones, tabletcomputing devices, personal computers, televisions, set-top boxes,SMS/MMS, email, instant messenger clients, forums, social networkingsites, or the like.

In some embodiments, the disclosed networks 110 and/or 105 may comprisea content distribution network(s). A “content delivery network” or“content distribution network” (CDN) generally refers to a distributedcontent delivery system that comprises a collection of computers orcomputing devices linked by a network or networks. A CDN may employsoftware, systems, protocols or techniques to facilitate variousservices, such as storage, caching, communication of content, orstreaming media or applications. A CDN may also enable an entity tooperate or manage another's site infrastructure, in whole or in part.

The content server 106 may include a device that includes aconfiguration to provide content via a network to another device. Acontent server 106 may, for example, host a site, such as amessaging/email platform or social networking site, or a personal usersite (such as a blog, vlog, online dating site, and the like). A contentserver 106 may also host a variety of other sites, including, but notlimited to business sites, educational sites, dictionary sites,encyclopedia sites, wikis, financial sites, government sites, and thelike. Devices that may operate as content server 106 include personalcomputers desktop computers, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,servers, and the like.

Content server 106 can further provide a variety of services thatinclude, but are not limited to, email services, photo services, webservices, third-party services, audio services, video services, instantmessaging (IM) services, SMS services, MMS services, FTP services, voiceover IP (VOIP) services, or the like. Such services, for example theemail services and email platform, can be provided via the messagingserver 120. Examples of content may include images, text, audio, video,or the like, which may be processed in the form of physical signals,such as electrical signals, for example, or may be stored in memory, asphysical states, for example.

An ad server 130 comprises a server or ad platform that stores onlineadvertisements for presentation to users. “Ad serving” refers to methodsused to place online advertisements on websites, in applications, orother places where users are more likely to see them, such as during anonline session or during computing platform use, for example. Variousmonetization techniques or models may be used in connection withsponsored advertising, including advertising associated with user. Suchsponsored advertising includes monetization techniques includingsponsored search advertising, non-sponsored search advertising,guaranteed and non-guaranteed delivery advertising, adnetworks/exchanges, ad targeting, ad serving and ad analytics.

For example, a process of buying or selling online advertisements mayinvolve a number of different entities, including advertisers,publishers, agencies, networks, or developers. To simplify this process,organization systems called “ad exchanges” or ad platforms may associateadvertisers or publishers, such as via a platform to facilitate buyingor selling of online advertisement inventory from multiple ad networks.“Ad networks” refers to aggregation of ad space supply from publishers,such as for provision en masse to advertisers. For web portals likeYahoo!®, advertisements may be displayed on web pages resulting from auser-defined search based at least in part upon one or more searchterms. Advertising may be beneficial to users, advertisers or webportals if displayed advertisements are relevant to interests of one ormore users. Thus, a variety of techniques have been developed to inferuser interest, user intent or to subsequently target relevantadvertising to users.

One approach to presenting targeted advertisements includes employingdemographic characteristics (e.g., age, income, sex, occupation, etc.)for predicting user behavior, such as by group. Advertisements may bepresented to users in a targeted audience based at least in part uponpredicted user behavior(s). Another approach includes profile-type adtargeting. In this approach, user profiles specific to a user may begenerated to model user behavior, for example, by tracking a user's paththrough a web site or network of sites, and compiling a profile based atleast in part on pages or advertisements ultimately delivered. Acorrelation may be identified, such as for user purchases, for example.An identified correlation may be used to target potential purchasers bytargeting content or advertisements to particular users. Duringpresentation of advertisements, a presentation system may collectdescriptive content about types of advertisements presented to users. Abroad range of descriptive content may be gathered, including contentspecific to an advertising presentation system. Advertising analyticsgathered may be transmitted to locations remote to an advertisingpresentation system for storage or for further evaluation. Whereadvertising analytics transmittal is not immediately available, gatheredadvertising analytics may be stored by an advertising presentationsystem until transmittal of those advertising analytics becomesavailable.

Servers 106, 108, 120 and 130 may be capable of sending or receivingsignals, such as via a wired or wireless network, or may be capable ofprocessing or storing signals, such as in memory as physical memorystates. Devices capable of operating as a server may include, asexamples, dedicated rack-mounted servers, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, set top boxes, integrated devices combining various features,such as two or more features of the foregoing devices, or the like.Servers may vary widely in configuration or capabilities, but generally,a server may include one or more central processing units and memory. Aserver may also include one or more mass storage devices, one or morepower supplies, one or more wired or wireless network interfaces, one ormore input/output interfaces, or one or more operating systems, such asWindows Server, Mac OS X, Unix, Linux, FreeBSD, or the like.

In an embodiment, users are able to access services provided by servers106, 108, 120 and/or 130. This may include in a non-limiting example,email servers, social networking services servers, SMS servers, IMservers, MMS servers, exchange servers, and all other known or to beknown types of messaging servers, in addition to, photo-sharing servicesservers, and travel services servers, via the network 105 using theirvarious devices 101-102. In some embodiments, applications, such as aphoto-sharing or viewing application (e.g., Flickr®, Instagram®, and thelike), can be hosted by the application server 108. Thus, theapplication server 108 can store various types of applications andapplication related information including application data and userprofile information.

In another example, messaging server 120 can host email applications;therefore, the messaging server 120 can store various types ofapplications and application related information including emailapplication data and user profile information. It should also beunderstood that content server 106 can also store various types of datarelated to the content and services provided by content server 106 in anassociated content database 107, as discussed in more detail below.Embodiments exist where the network 105 is also coupled with/connectedto a Trusted Search Server (TSS) which can be utilized to render contentin accordance with the embodiments discussed herein.

Moreover, although FIG. 1 illustrates servers 106, 108, 120 and 130 assingle computing devices, respectively, the disclosure is not solimited. For example, one or more functions of servers 106, 108, 120and/or 130 may be distributed across one or more distinct computingdevices. Moreover, in one embodiment, servers 106, 108, 120 and/or 130may be integrated into a single computing device, without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a client device showing anexample embodiment of a client device that may be used within thepresent disclosure. Client device 200 may include many more or lesscomponents than those shown in FIG. 2. However, the components shown aresufficient to disclose an illustrative embodiment for implementing thepresent disclosure. Client device 200 may represent, for example, clientdevices discussed above in relation to FIG. 1.

As shown in the figure, Client device 200 includes a processing unit(CPU) 222 in communication with a mass memory 230 via a bus 224. Clientdevice 200 also includes a power supply 226, one or more networkinterfaces 250, an audio interface 252, a display 254, a keypad 256, anilluminator 258, an input/output interface 260, a haptic interface 262,and an optional global positioning systems (GPS) receiver 264. Powersupply 226 provides power to Client device 200. A rechargeable ornon-rechargeable battery may be used to provide power. The power mayalso be provided by an external power source, such as an AC adapter or apowered docking cradle that supplements and/or recharges a battery.

Client device 200 may optionally communicate with a base station (notshown), or directly with another computing device. Network interface 250includes circuitry for coupling Client device 200 to one or morenetworks, and is constructed for use with one or more communicationprotocols and technologies including, but not limited to, global systemfor Client communication (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA), user datagram protocol (UDP),transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), SMS, generalpacket radio service (GPRS), WAP, ultra wide band (UWB), IEEE 802.16Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), SIP/RTP, or anyof a variety of other wireless communication protocols. Networkinterface 250 is sometimes known as a transceiver, transceiving device,or network interface card (NIC).

Audio interface 252 is arranged to produce and receive audio signalssuch as the sound of a human voice. For example, audio interface 252 maybe coupled to a speaker and microphone (not shown) to enabletelecommunication with others and/or generate an audio acknowledgementfor some action. Display 254 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), gasplasma, light emitting diode (LED), or any other type of display usedwith a computing device. Display 254 may also include a touch sensitivescreen arranged to receive input from an object such as a stylus or adigit from a human hand.

Keypad 256 may comprise any input device arranged to receive input froma user. For example, keypad 256 may include a push button numeric dial,or a keyboard. Keypad 256 may also include command buttons that areassociated with selecting and sending images. Illuminator 258 mayprovide a status indication and/or provide light. Illuminator 258 mayremain active for specific periods of time or in response to events. Forexample, when illuminator 258 is active, it may backlight the buttons onkeypad 256 and stay on while the client device is powered. Also,illuminator 258 may backlight these buttons in various patterns whenparticular actions are performed, such as dialing another client device.Illuminator 258 may also cause light sources positioned within atransparent or translucent case of the client device to illuminate inresponse to actions.

Client device 200 also comprises input/output interface 260 forcommunicating with external devices, such as a headset, or other inputor output devices not shown in FIG. 2. Input/output interface 260 canutilize one or more communication technologies, such as USB, infrared,Bluetooth™, or the like. Haptic interface 262 is arranged to providetactile feedback to a user of the client device. For example, the hapticinterface may be employed to vibrate client device 200 in a particularway when the Client device 200 receives a communication from anotheruser.

Optional GPS transceiver 264 can determine the physical coordinates ofClient device 200 on the surface of the Earth, which typically outputs alocation as latitude and longitude values. GPS transceiver 264 can alsoemploy other geo-positioning mechanisms, including, but not limited to,triangulation, assisted GPS (AGPS), E-OTD, CI, SAI, ETA, BSS or thelike, to further determine the physical location of Client device 200 onthe surface of the Earth. It is understood that under differentconditions, GPS transceiver 264 can determine a physical location withinmillimeters for Client device 200; and in other cases, the determinedphysical location may be less precise, such as within a meter orsignificantly greater distances. In one embodiment, however, Clientdevice may through other components, provide other information that maybe employed to determine a physical location of the device, includingfor example, a MAC address, IP address, or the like.

Mass memory 230 includes a RAM 232, a ROM 234, and other storage means.Mass memory 230 illustrates another example of computer storage mediafor storage of information such as computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules or other data. Mass memory 230 stores abasic input/output system (“BIOS”) 240 for controlling low-leveloperation of Client device 200. The mass memory also stores an operatingsystem 241 for controlling the operation of Client device 200. It willbe appreciated that this component may include a general purposeoperating system such as a version of UNIX, or LINUX™, or a specializedclient communication operating system such as Windows Client™, or theSymbian® operating system. The operating system may include, orinterface with a Java virtual machine module that enables control ofhardware components and/or operating system operations via Javaapplication programs.

Memory 230 further includes one or more data stores, which can beutilized by Client device 200 to store, among other things, applications242 and/or other data. For example, data stores may be employed to storeinformation that describes various capabilities of Client device 200.The information may then be provided to another device based on any of avariety of events, including being sent as part of a header during acommunication, sent upon request, or the like. At least a portion of thecapability information may also be stored on a disk drive or otherstorage medium (not shown) within a client device.

Applications 242 may include computer executable instructions which,when executed by Client device 200, transmit, receive, and/or otherwiseprocess audio, video, images, and enable telecommunication with anotheruser of another client device. Other examples of application programsinclude calendars, browsers, contact managers, task managers,transcoders, database programs, word processing programs, securityapplications, spreadsheet programs, games, search programs, and soforth. Applications 242 may further include messaging client 245 that isconfigured to send, to receive, and/or to otherwise process messagesusing SMS, MMS, IM, email, VOIP, and/or any of a variety of othermessaging communication protocols. Although a single messaging client245 is illustrated it should be clear that multiple messaging clientsmay be employed. For example, one messaging client may be configured tomanage SMS messages, where another messaging client manages IM messages,and yet another messaging client is configured to manage servingadvertisements, emails, or the like.

Having described the components of the general architecture employedwithin the disclosed systems and methods, the components' generaloperation with respect to the disclosed systems and methods will now bedescribed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the components of system 300 forperforming the systems and methods discussed herein. FIG. 3 includes aplurality of messages 302, a network 304, a messaging engine 308 and adatabase 306 for storing messages. The message engine 308 could behosted by a web server, content provider, email service provider, adserver, a user's computing device, or any combination thereof. Theplurality of messages 302 can be any type of message. Examples of suchmessages 302 can include email messages, HTML forms, social networkingmessages or notifications, comments to an article or website, onlineforum posts/entries, word processing documents, help desk messages,portable document format (PDF) documents and/or other types ofdocuments. The messages 302 can be provided to the message engine 308 oraccessed by a computer program or device that can access the messages.In some embodiments, the messages 302 can be stored in a database ofstored messages 306, which is associated with an email provider, such asYahoo! Mail®. The database 306 can be any type of database or memorythat can store the messages 302 and associated follow criteria, asdiscussed herein. For purposes of the present disclosure, email messagesas a whole are discussed within some embodiments; however, it should notbe construed to limit the applications of the systems and methodsdiscussed herein. Indeed, while reference is made throughout the instantdisclosure to email or mail messages, other forms of electronicdocuments or transmissions (e.g., Short Message Service (SMS) messages,Multi-media Message Service (MMS) messages, tweets, posts and the like)can be received and/or accessed and processed by the message engine 308according to the disclosed systems and methods.

As discussed above, with reference to FIG. 1, the network 304 can be anytype of network such as, but not limited to, a wireless network, a localarea network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the Internet, or acombination thereof. The network 304 facilitates connectivity betweenthe messages 302, the message engine 308, and the database of storedresources 306.

The message engine 308 includes a follow module 310, determinationmodule 312, summary module 314 and delivery module 316. It should beunderstood that the engine(s) and modules discussed herein arenon-exhaustive, as additional or fewer engines and/or modules, orsub-engines or sub-modules may be applicable to the embodiments of thesystems and methods discussed. The operations, configurations andfunctionalities of each module, and their role within embodiments of thepresent disclosure will be discussed with reference to FIG. 4, wherebythe components of system 300 are implemented to perform the steps ofprocess 400.

FIG. 4 is a process 400 diagram illustrating steps performed inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. As discussedabove, the present disclosure involves enabling a user to followmessages and message conversations directly from his/her inbox based on,but not limited to, a context of the received messages, content includedin the messages, the sender of the messages, intended recipients of themessage, and the like. Indeed, whether the user is viewing his/her inboxin a web-based application or in an email application on a mobiledevice, the user will be able to follow message activity according tothe systems and methods discussed herein. Process 400 discusses, interalia, a method for a recipient user to follow messages, topics or otherusers from within the recipient user's inbox, such that whenever a newmessage associated with a followed conversation (i.e., satisfying afollow criteria) is received (or detected), the user is notified, andthe updated conversation is available for viewing from within therecipient user's inbox.

While discussing FIG. 4, FIG. 5 will also be referenced to convey thefeatures and steps discussed in relation to Process 400. FIG. 5illustrates a non-limiting example of a follow email embodiment whichillustrates a notification view upon a user receiving a followed email.FIG. 5 depicts follow inbox 500, which is in itself an inbox section ofthe main inbox associated with a user's message account. According tosome embodiments, follow inbox 500 can also be a folder view withrespect to the user's inbox. Follow inbox 500 is associated with theuser's main inbox, and is accessible through a user interface elementsuch as for example the follow tab 502. Follow inbox 500 is alsoaccessible through a user action in connection with follow inbox portion504 associated with a user's inbox panel or portion 501. Thus, through auser action, such as an input selection of tab 502 or an item listed inportion 504, a user can view his/her follow inbox 500. As discussed inmore detail below, follow inbox portion 504 is displayed within theinbox panel 501 of a user's email platform user interface (UI).Typically, this UI portion 501 displays folders associated with a user'sinbox account, such as, his/her main inbox folder, a drafts folder, sentmail folder, spam folder, trash folder, and the like. The follow inboxportion 504 (or folder), as illustrated in FIG. 5, shows thatidentifiers for followed messages can be displayed.

For example, portion 504 shows that there are three (3) conversationsbeing followed, and the indicator for each conversation can providewhich follow criteria triggered such conversations to be followed. Forexample, the follow inbox portion 504 shows that the user is followingmails from “Marissa Mayer” (where her email address could have been thefollow criteria); therefore, as indicated in the portion 504, “MarissaMayer” is listed as a header for the conversation in the folder view ofportion 504. Also, under the listing, portion 504 can show how manymails have been received for the followed conversation and types ofcontent objects that are associated with the conversation. As with the“Marissa Mayer” example illustrated in FIG. 5, there have been 5 mails,which include 2 images within the messages. It should be understood thatthe information displayed in the portion 504 is not limited to what isdiscussed above and illustrated in FIG. 5, as any type of identifyinginformation can be displayed in the portion 504, such that, the viewinguser of the portion 504 within the user's mail UI will be able discernactivity related to followed message activity. Further discussion ofthis is disclosed in more detail below from the discussion of Process400 and the below examples.

FIG. 5 also illustrates an example that, within the follow inbox 500, amessage conversation 505 includes two messages 506 and 508.Additionally, the title 503 of the message conversation 505 can bedisplayed. As discussed in more detail below, these messages can havedisplayed summaries (or snippets), 506 a and 508 a, respectively.According to some embodiments, the conversation 505 will display themessages as unopened, and in some embodiments, the messages can bedisplayed as opened, or some combination thereof. Additionally, anadvertisement 520 associated with the followed conversations can bedisplayed, as discussed in more detail below.

By way of a non-limiting example, for purposes of explaining Process 400in connection with FIG. 5, user Jim receives a message in his inbox. Themessage is related to fantasy football and is sent from the commissionerof his fantasy football league. The recipients on the message includeJim, in addition to the other 10 users in the league (the eleventh userbeing the sender of the message). Therefore, Jim would like to followthis message, as the sender of the message, recipients of the message,content of the message and topic of the message are all of interest toJim.

As discussed above, follow criteria can include information associatedwith a sender of the message, information associated with intendedrecipient(s) of the message (e.g., if the message is sent to a group), atopic of the message, title of the message, context of the message,content of the message, a message template format or information withinthe message template, temporal data associated with a message, socialdata associated with the message, spatial data associated with themessage, and the like.

Thus, for example, Jim can open the message, select the sender's emailaddress and set such address as the follow criteria. In someembodiments, Jim can perform a similar action for any or all of therecipients' email addresses. In some embodiments, Jim can select themessage title as the follow criteria. Jim can also simply select themessage as a whole and set the message as the follow criteria. The aboveactions can be performed with or without opening the message. As such,based on the above follow criteria set by Jim, anytime another messageis received that is determined to relate to the initial message (as partof a message thread or chain), Jim will be alerted to its arrival in hisinbox. In other words, messages in the message conversation or threadcan be identified as part of a message conversation that Jim hasindicated he intends to follow.

For example, if Jim sets the sender's email address as the followcriteria, anytime the sender sends a message within the emailconversation associated with the initial message, Jim will be alerted toits arrival in his inbox. However, since Jim set the sender's emailaddress as the follow criteria in the context of the fantasy footballemail chain, when the sender sends Jim another unrelated message, Jimmay not be identified, unless Jim sets other criteria for such an alert,or augments the initial criteria with a broader set of criteria. Thusfor example Jim could receive a message from a sender concerning fantasyfootball, and a subsequent message from the same sender about a flattire. If Jim has set the follow criteria for all sender's messages, Jimwill see both in his follow messages, but if Jim set the criteria to thesender and fantasy football, the flat tire message would not appear.

According to some embodiments, despite Jim only setting the sender'semail address as the follow criteria, Jim could also be alerted to newthreads in the fantasy football conversation when such threads are sentfrom one of the initial recipients. That is, for example, recipient Samis also on the initial fantasy football email and despite Jim onlyindicating the sender's address as the follow criteria, Jim can bealerted to Sam's response to the initial email because the initialsender is now a recipient of Sam's email. As such, it should beunderstood that follow criteria set by a user can apply to all messageswithin a message conversation (or message chain or thread).

According to some embodiments, the follow criteria need not be setthrough direct input by Jim. That is, it can be determined that Jim isheavily involved in communications with particular users (e.g., users inthe fantasy football league) or communications dealing with a particularcontext. As such, the messaging platform (e.g., Yahoo! Mail®) can applyany known or to be known data mining, machine learning algorithm, textparser or user behavior algorithms(s) to determine that Jim's activitiesshowcase a desire for Jim to be alerted to such messages. From the aboveexample, since Jim typically has heavy email traffic with a particularset of users from September to January each year (i.e., footballseason), and/or such messages are related to fantasy football (which wasdetermined to be of interested to Jim), the messaging platform can setsuch derived information (message data) as follow criteria for Jim,which can be set by the system alone or in addition to Jim's selectedcriteria, or just those criteria set by Jim can be used.

Thus, continuing with the above example, Jim has set the follow criteriato be applied to incoming messages, such that when messages in thefantasy football message conversation are received, Jim is to bealerted. As illustrated in FIG. 5, such alerts can be effectuatedthrough display of the message in the follow inbox 500, which displaysconversation 505, or within a follow inbox portion 504 associated withJim's inbox panel 501. As discussed above, the follow inbox portion 504can indicate how many messages are received for a particularconversation that is being followed and/or other information associatedwith followed messages. That is, each message conversation that is beingfollowed has specific denoted follow criteria, and can be separatelyviewed in a portion of Jim's inbox—the follow inbox 500, as illustratedin FIG. 5 and discussed above. Thus, the message is delivered accordingto follow protocol detailed in relation to Process 400. If the messagesare not related to the fantasy football conversation (do not satisfyfollow criteria), then the message is delivered to Jim's inbox accordingto normal protocol.

Taking into account the above example, Process 400 will be discusseddetailing the steps for initiating following a message and delivering afollowed message to a user's inbox according to follow protocol. Process400 begins with Step 402 where a message intended for a recipient useris received. In accordance embodiments of the present disclosure, themessage reception is performed by a message platform, for example,Yahoo! Mail®, and such messages are stored in storage 306.

In Step 404, an indication is received that provides an instruction tothe message platform (i.e., messaging engine 300) to follow anysubsequent messages that are related to the initial message (where theinitial message is the message that is the launching point for thefollow indication—whether it is a newly received message or message thathas been previously received in the recipient user's inbox). That is,follow criteria can be set based on a newly received message in a newmessage conversation, or in an existing conversation, where based uponat least one thread previously received in a conversation, suchconversation is requested to be followed through designation of followcriteria. Step 404 is performed by the follow module 310.

According to some embodiments, follow criteria can be set without theneed for a received message. That is, as described above, a user canselect another user's contact information (email address) from theuser's contacts; or can input an email address to follow via a textentry. Such selection/entry would provide a follow instruction to followmessages received from that particular user. According to someembodiments, such selection can occur automatically by the messageplatform analyzing the user's inbox and/or the user's messagingbehavior, and determining that a contact is, or has been frequentlycontacted at or above a threshold. Therefore, follow criteria, formessages in the user's inbox or contact information of particular users,can be set by a user via user input or search of the user's inbox, userdefined rules, filters and/or preferences. Indeed, follow criteria canbe automatically determined based on the user's activity or messagingbehavior in connection with his/her inbox.

As discussed above, follow criteria denotes the context for whichmessage conversations are to be followed. The follow criteria can beassociated with particular users (i.e., their email addresses) or withmessage conversations. Therefore, the follow criteria can be stored instorage 306. The follow criteria can be stored accordance with themessage conversations from which it is derived or associated. Thus, suchstorage information can entail the follow criteria, message data,context of the message, content associated with the message, and thecontact information of the sender(s) and recipient(s). In someembodiments, the follow criteria, especially when associated with aparticular content or content type, can be used for monetizationpurposes, where targeted advertisements can be served based upon thedata (e.g., content) identified from followed messages, as discussed inmore detail below in FIG. 6.

In Step 406, a determination is made regarding whether subsequentmessages intended for the user satisfy the follow criteria. Step 406 isperformed by the determination module 312. According to someembodiments, such determination can occur at the messaging server 120prior to delivery to the user's inbox. In some embodiments, thedetermination can occur upon delivery of the message to the user'sinbox. According to some embodiments, the determination in Step 406 mayonly occur upon a user opening his/her messaging application or visitingthe location (e.g. URL or web page) hosting a web-based messagingplatform. In some embodiments, the determination in Step 406 may onlyoccur periodically according to a predetermined time period (set by theuser, system or messaging provider). In some embodiments, determinationin Step 406 may only occur in accordance with a push, pull or fetch stepimplemented in accordance with the messaging platform upon attempting toretrieve and/or deliver messages.

Step 406 involves monitoring incoming messages based on the followcriteria. That is, Step 406 involves analyzing message data associatedwith received messages, and determining if at least a portion of (orany) message data coincides with the follow criteria. For example,message data can include, but is not limited to, content of the message(in the message body), the title of the message, intended recipients ofthe message and the sender of the message, date and time of reception,message metadata or any of the above alone or in multiple combinations.Thus, such message data is parsed, analyzed and compared against thefollow criteria (set by the system and/or user), and the determinationin Step 406 is performed. Such parsing, analyzing and comparing can bedone in accordance with known or to become known data analysistechniques such as, but not limited to, top-down parsers, bottom-upparsers, recursive parsers, comparison generators, and the like.

If the message data associated with an incoming message is determinednot to coincide, match, relate to, or satisfy the follow criteria, thenthe message is delivered (and displayed) in the user's inbox accordingto known protocol. Step 408. That is, the message can be delivered tothe user's inbox according to the protocol associated with the messagingplatform, operating system and/or device the user is utilizing accordingto known methods and techniques.

If at least a portion of the message data is determined to meet thefollow criteria, that is, the message is determined to be a message, ofa message type, contain content or be associated with a messageconversation that the user has indicated as desiring to follow, then amessage summary (or snippet or preview) is generated for the incomingmessage. Step 410. Generation of the summary (or snippet) is performedby the summary module 314. A message summary or snippet is generatedbased on the message data associated with the content of the message.According to some embodiments, the message data associated with thecontent of the message is extracted and displayed as the snippet inaccordance with the summary threshold, as discussed herein. The messagesummary provides a snippet 508 a (or preview) of the content in thereceived message, as illustrated in items 506 a and 508 a of FIG. 5.According to some embodiments, the first n number of characters in thenew (or received) message that at least meets a summary threshold isidentified. The threshold can be related to the amount of charactersable to be displayed in within the preview section of a displayed email.Accordingly, any known or to be known method for generating anddisplaying a message snippet is applicable to the disclosed systems andmethods. According to some embodiments, the snippet or preview can bedisplayed to the user within the user's inbox, within the user's followinbox 500, or as a preview of the message, or other known or to be knownmethods of providing previews for messages.

In Step 412, the received message, which is determined to satisfy thefollow criteria, is delivered to the recipient user according to followprotocol, which is discussed herein. Delivery of the message isperformed by the delivery module 316. As discussed above, the deliveryof the message includes displaying the message as a new message thread508 (with displayed snippet 508 a) within the message conversation 505.(Note, as displayed, item 506 illustrates a first message in theconversation 505 having displayed snippet 506 a, and message 508represents a subsequent message deemed to have satisfied the followcriteria, as discussed herein).

According to some embodiments, the delivery of Step 412 includesdelivering the message solely for display in a follow inbox 500. Asdiscussed above, the follow inbox 500 is associated with the user's maininbox provided by the messaging platform, and access, loading or displayof the follow inbox 500 can be effectuated by the user selecting the tab502, or clicking on any of the items in the follow inbox portion 504,which provides notifications/alerts as to how many updates have occurredresponsive to followed messages for the user, what the updates includes(such as, how many messages are in a followed conversation and what typeof content is included in the conversation), and/or other types ofinformation, such as, but not limited to, the title of a followedconversation. According to some embodiments, the delivery of Step 412can include delivering the message to the user's inbox, as with standardemails—the main inbox of the user's account, as well as (or in addition)to the follow inbox 500.

According to some embodiments, upon receiving a message associated witha followed conversation (or context), the user will be immediately takento the new unread message upon loading the messaging platform. This canoccur across operating systems, devices and messaging platforms. Forexample, when opening a user's messaging application on a mobile device,the newly received messages that are part of followed conversations willbe immediately displayed. In another example, upon signing into toYahoo! Mail® on a personal computer, the user can immediately viewemails from sender's the user has followed. The above two (2) examplesresult in the user immediately being presented with the follow inbox500.

FIG. 6 is a work flow illustrating a process 600 for serving relevantadvertisements based on followed messages. Specifically, FIG. 6illustrates how advertisements are served to recipients of messagesbased on the content of followed messages. In Step 602, contentassociated with a followed message conversation is identified. That is,message data associated with content of followed message conversationsis compiled, and this content, forms a basis for a context for servingadvertisements having a similar context. For example, the content can berelated to the content included in the message body, title of themessages or one message, and the like. Such content is identifiable fromthe message data associated with each message, as discussed above. InStep 604, the content (or content data) is communicated (or shared) fromthe email platform to an ad platform, which can include an advertisementserver 130 and an associated advertisement database. Upon receipt of thecontent data, the advertisement server 130 performs a search for arelevant advertisement within the associated advertisement database. Thesearch for an advertisement is based at least on the identified content.

In Step 604, the advertisement server 130 searches the advertisementdatabase for advertisements that relate to (or match) the identifiedcontent. In Step 606, an advertisement(s) is selected (or retrieved)based on the results of Step 604. In some embodiments, theadvertisement(s) can be selected based upon the result of Step 604, andmodified to conform to attributes of the page or inbox upon which theadvertisement will be displayed, and/or to the operating system ordevice for which it will be displayed. In some embodiments, as in Step608, the selected advertisement(s) is shared or communicated via theemail platform. In some alternative embodiments, the selectedadvertisement is sent directly to each user's computing device. As such,as illustrated in FIG. 5, the transmitted advertisement, advertisement520, can be displayed in connection with a user's email inbox, forexample, the follow inbox 500. In some embodiments, the advertisement520 may be displayed in association with a folder of the user's inbox,within a body of a message, within a snippet/preview of a thread 508 orany other portion of a message conversation or user interface area of amessage application's graphical user interface.

By way of a non-limiting example, using the example above of Jimfollowing messages related to fantasy football, the message data of thefollowed messages (or message conversation 505) could include contentdata related to fantasy football or football. That is, the message dataof the followed conversation (e.g., item 505 in FIG. 5), includesmessage data for each followed message (e.g., items 506 and 508 in FIG.5) within the conversation 505. Therefore, advertisement 520 could beserved to Jim's inbox for display within the follow inbox 500, whereadvertisement could be related to football tickets (derived from messagedata of message 508), discounts on fantasy football leagues (derivedfrom message data from the title 503 and/or message 506), and the like.Additionally, embodiments exist where the advertisement may change forthe latest received message. That is, using FIG. 5 as an illustrativeexample, when message 506 is received, the advertisement 520 may bebased on content data for that message. For example, the ad 520 could berelated to fantasy football. Then, when message 508 is received, the ad520 could change based on the content data of that message. For example,if message 508 discusses attending a game that following Sunday, anotherad 520 may be displayed related to a coupon for tickets to a footballgame.

As shown in FIG. 7, internal architecture 700 includes one or moreprocessing units, processors, or processing cores, (also referred toherein as CPUs) 712, which interface with at least one computer bus 702.Also interfacing with computer bus 702 are computer-readable medium, ormedia, 706, network interface 714, memory 704, e.g., random accessmemory (RAM), run-time transient memory, read only memory (ROM), mediadisk drive interface 720 as an interface for a drive that can readand/or write to media including removable media such as floppy, CD-ROM,DVD, media, display interface 710 as interface for a monitor or otherdisplay device, keyboard interface 716 as interface for a keyboard,pointing device interface 718 as an interface for a mouse or otherpointing device, and miscellaneous other interfaces not shownindividually, such as parallel and serial port interfaces and auniversal serial bus (USB) interface.

Memory 704 interfaces with computer bus 702 so as to provide informationstored in memory 704 to CPU 712 during execution of software programssuch as an operating system, application programs, device drivers, andsoftware modules that comprise program code, and/or computer executableprocess steps, incorporating functionality described herein, e.g., oneor more of process flows described herein. CPU 712 first loads computerexecutable process steps from storage, e.g., memory 704, computerreadable storage medium/media 706, removable media drive, and/or otherstorage device. CPU 712 can then execute the stored process steps inorder to execute the loaded computer-executable process steps. Storeddata, e.g., data stored by a storage device, can be accessed by CPU 712during the execution of computer-executable process steps.

Persistent storage, e.g., medium/media 706, can be used to store anoperating system and one or more application programs. Persistentstorage can also be used to store device drivers, such as one or more ofa digital camera driver, monitor driver, printer driver, scanner driver,or other device drivers, web pages, content files, playlists and otherfiles. Persistent storage can further include program modules and datafiles used to implement one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure, e.g., listing selection module(s), targeting informationcollection module(s), and listing notification module(s), thefunctionality and use of which in the implementation of the presentdisclosure are discussed in detail herein.

Network link 728 typically provides information communication usingtransmission media through one or more networks to other devices thatuse or process the information. For example, network link 728 mayprovide a connection through local network 724 to a host computer 726 orto equipment operated by a Network or Internet Service Provider (ISP)730. ISP equipment in turn provides data communication services throughthe public, worldwide packet-switching communication network of networksnow commonly referred to as the Internet 732.

A computer called a server host 734 connected to the Internet 732 hostsa process that provides a service in response to information receivedover the Internet 732. For example, server host 734 hosts a process thatprovides information representing video data for presentation at display710. It is contemplated that the components of system 700 can bedeployed in various configurations within other computer systems, e.g.,host and server.

At least some embodiments of the present disclosure are related to theuse of computer system 700 for implementing some or all of thetechniques described herein. According to one embodiment, thosetechniques are performed by computer system 700 in response toprocessing unit 712 executing one or more sequences of one or moreprocessor instructions contained in memory 704. Such instructions, alsocalled computer instructions, software and program code, may be readinto memory 704 from another computer-readable medium 706 such asstorage device or network link. Execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in memory 704 causes processing unit 712 toperform one or more of the method steps described herein. In alternativeembodiments, hardware, such as ASIC, may be used in place of or incombination with software. Thus, embodiments of the present disclosureare not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software,unless otherwise explicitly stated herein.

The signals transmitted over network link and other networks throughcommunications interface, carry information to and from computer system700. Computer system 700 can send and receive information, includingprogram code, through the networks, among others, through network linkand communications interface. In an example using the Internet, a serverhost transmits program code for a particular application, requested by amessage sent from computer, through Internet, ISP equipment, localnetwork and communications interface. The received code may be executedby processor 702 as it is received, or may be stored in memory 704 or instorage device or other non-volatile storage for later execution, orboth.

For the purposes of this disclosure a module is a software, hardware, orfirmware (or combinations thereof) system, process or functionality, orcomponent thereof, that performs or facilitates the processes, features,and/or functions described herein (with or without human interaction oraugmentation). A module can include sub-modules. Software components ofa module may be stored on a computer readable medium for execution by aprocessor. Modules may be integral to one or more servers, or be loadedand executed by one or more servers. One or more modules may be groupedinto an engine or an application.

For the purposes of this disclosure the term “user”, “subscriber”“consumer” or “customer” should be understood to refer to a consumer ofdata supplied by a data provider. By way of example, and not limitation,the term “user” or “subscriber” can refer to a person who receives dataprovided by the data or service provider over the Internet in a browsersession, or can refer to an automated software application whichreceives the data and stores or processes the data.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the methods and systems ofthe present disclosure may be implemented in many manners and as suchare not to be limited by the foregoing exemplary embodiments andexamples. In other words, functional elements being performed by singleor multiple components, in various combinations of hardware and softwareor firmware, and individual functions, may be distributed among softwareapplications at either the client level or server level or both. In thisregard, any number of the features of the different embodimentsdescribed herein may be combined into single or multiple embodiments,and alternate embodiments having fewer than, or more than, all of thefeatures described herein are possible.

Functionality may also be, in whole or in part, distributed amongmultiple components, in manners now known or to become known. Thus,myriad software/hardware/firmware combinations are possible in achievingthe functions, features, interfaces and preferences described herein.Moreover, the scope of the present disclosure covers conventionallyknown manners for carrying out the described features and functions andinterfaces, as well as those variations and modifications that may bemade to the hardware or software or firmware components described hereinas would be understood by those skilled in the art now and hereafter.

Furthermore, the embodiments of methods presented and described asflowcharts in this disclosure are provided by way of example in order toprovide a more complete understanding of the technology. The disclosedmethods are not limited to the operations and logical flow presentedherein. Alternative embodiments are contemplated in which the order ofthe various operations is altered and in which sub-operations describedas being part of a larger operation are performed independently.

While various embodiments have been described for purposes of thisdisclosure, such embodiments should not be deemed to limit the teachingof this disclosure to those embodiments. Various changes andmodifications may be made to the elements and operations described aboveto obtain a result that remains within the scope of the systems andprocesses described in this disclosure.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method comprising: receiving, at a server, aninstruction to follow a message conversation and each update of theconversation from a message inbox of a user, said follow instructioncomprising follow criteria associated with a message context of theconversation; analyzing, via the server, message data associated with anincoming message addressed to the user, said analysis comprisingcomparing said message data to said follow criteria; determining, viathe server, whether at least a portion of said message data satisfiessaid follow criteria based on said comparison; upon determining that atleast said portion satisfies said follow criteria, retrieving, via theserver, supplemental digital content corresponding to said messagecontext and said message data; modifying, via the server, said incomingmessage based on said retrieved supplemental digital content such thatsaid supplemental digital content is included within said modifiedmessage; and delivering, via the server, said modified message fordisplay in said inbox in association with said message conversation,said delivery facilitates display of said modified message in a followsection of said inbox.
 2. The method of claim 21, further comprising:modifying each of the messages in said message conversation to includesaid supplemental digital content.
 23. The method of claim 21, furthercomprising: determining an attribute of the message data; retrieving anupdated version of the supplemental content; and updating said modifiedmessage to replace said supplemental content with said updated version.24. The method of claim 21, further comprising: analyzing message dataassociated with each message in said message conversation, said analysiscomprising comparing said message data to said follow criteria;identifying a set of messages from within said message conversation thathas corresponding message data satisfying said follow criteria;retrieving supplemental digital content corresponding to each message insaid set of messages; modifying each message based on said retrievedsupplemental digital content such that supplemental digital contentretrieved for a respective message in said set of messages is includedwithin said respective message.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein saidmodified messages in said message set are displayed upon opening saidmessage conversation.
 26. The method of claim 21, wherein said followcriteria comprises a type of data consisting of: an email address, acontent item, a subject, a recipient, a sender, a timing of a message,and a type of action causing the incoming message to be received. 27.The method of claim 21, wherein said follow section is a separate inboxview dedicated solely to followed conversations that are associated withsaid inbox.
 28. The method of claim 21, further comprising: extractingat least said portion from said message; and generating a snippet basedon said extracted portion.
 29. The method of claim 28, furthercomprising: delivering said snippet to said inbox for display withinsaid follow section.
 30. The method of claim 29, wherein said deliveredsnippet is displayed along with said retrieved supplemental digitalcontent.
 31. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangiblyencoded with computer-executable instructions, that when executed by aserver, perform a method comprising: receiving, at the server, aninstruction to follow a message conversation and each update of theconversation from a message inbox of a user, said follow instructioncomprising follow criteria associated with a message context of theconversation; analyzing, via the server, message data associated with anincoming message addressed to the user, said analysis comprisingcomparing said message data to said follow criteria; determining, viathe server, whether at least a portion of said message data satisfiessaid follow criteria based on said comparison; upon determining that atleast said portion satisfies said follow criteria, retrieving, via theserver, supplemental digital content corresponding to said messagecontext and said message data; modifying, via the server, said incomingmessage based on said retrieved supplemental digital content such thatsaid supplemental digital content is included within said modifiedmessage; and delivering, via the server, said modified message fordisplay in said inbox in association with said message conversation,said delivery facilitates display of said modified message in a followsection of said inbox.
 32. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 31, further comprising: modifying each of the messagesin said message conversation to include said supplemental digitalcontent.
 33. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 31, further comprising: determining an attribute of the messagedata; retrieving an updated version of the supplemental content; andupdating said modified message to replace said supplemental content withsaid updated version.
 34. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 31, further comprising: analyzing message dataassociated with each message in said message conversation, said analysiscomprising comparing said message data to said follow criteria;identifying a set of messages from within said message conversation thathas corresponding message data satisfying said follow criteria;retrieving supplemental digital content corresponding to each message insaid set of messages; modifying each message based on said retrievedsupplemental digital content such that supplemental digital contentretrieved for a respective message in said set of messages is includedwithin said respective message.
 35. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 34, wherein said modified messages in saidmessage set are displayed upon opening said message conversation. 36.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, whereinsaid follow criteria comprises a type of data consisting of: an emailaddress, a content item, a subject, a recipient, a sender, a timing of amessage, and a type of action causing the incoming message to bereceived.
 37. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 31, wherein said follow section is a separate inbox view dedicatedsolely to followed conversations that are associated with said inbox.38. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 31,further comprising: extracting at least said portion from said message;generating a snippet based on said extracted portion; and deliveringsaid snippet to said inbox for display within said follow section,wherein said delivered snippet is displayed along with said retrievedsupplemental digital content.
 39. A server comprising: a processor; anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storingthereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logiccomprising: logic executed by the processor for receiving, at theserver, an instruction to follow a message conversation and each updateof the conversation from a message inbox of a user, said followinstruction comprising follow criteria associated with a message contextof the conversation; logic executed by the processor for analyzing, viathe server, message data associated with an incoming message addressedto the user, said analysis comprising comparing said message data tosaid follow criteria; logic executed by the processor for determining,via the server, whether at least a portion of said message datasatisfies said follow criteria based on said comparison; logic executedby the processor for retrieving, via the server, upon determining thatat least said portion satisfies said follow criteria, supplementaldigital content corresponding to said message context and said messagedata; logic executed by the processor for modifying, via the server,said incoming message based on said retrieved supplemental digitalcontent such that said supplemental digital content is included withinsaid modified message; and logic executed by the processor fordelivering, via the server, said modified message for display in saidinbox in association with said message conversation, said deliveryfacilitates display of said modified message in a follow section of saidinbox.
 40. The server of claim 39, further comprising: logic executed bythe processor for modifying each of the messages in said messageconversation to include said supplemental digital content.